Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Guest Post - The Seasons of London




(Today's guest post is by Stace, who you can read more from at her Blog here.  She has the most wonderful photos and stories of their time and travels in England and parts of Europe posted there.  You'll feel like you've taken a holiday just reading it - or, more likely really, you'll seriously want to go on holiday there!  Thank you, Stace!! :)


I love the Patches of Heaven blog and am a dedicated reader... so thanks to the awesome ladies at Patches of Heaven for the opportunity to guest post!

My husband and I lived in London for 3.5 years. Each year a bunch of friends would celebrate Thanksgiving together. After the amazing feast, we would each take it in turns around the table to say what we were thankful for. The first year my turn came, and I'm pretty sure I said that I was thankful for my husband... but then I remember saying that I was really thankful to have experienced real seasons. Growing up in Brisbane my whole life I had never seen snow. I had never experienced the leaves all changing colour and the trees losing their leaves. That first year in London experiencing the seasons was really special to me. There's something really magical about the changing of the seasons.

Summer

Summer in London is crazy short. You wait for it all year, and then feel that it never really came. But those few weeks of the year where it really heats up, where you can go outside without a cardigan and you find yourself 'dying' at 25 degrees...it's pretty exciting. The British really know how to enjoy good weather. The sun comes out, the temperature rises, and everyone goes outside to soak it up. The parks are packed, people sunbaking on the grass, everyone out walking. It's an incredible feeling. And with daylight savings, there are more 'bright' hours in the day to enjoy!










Autumn

Autumn comes a little too quickly. You've still been holding out for a longer Summer and all of a sudden the nights are cool and the leaves are changing colour. London parks are so gorgeous in Autumn. I loved walking through them and seeing all the leaves. Daylight savings ends and the clocks change back and the days start to seem shorter.










Winter

The first half of Winter in London is exciting. The temperatures drop, Christmas decorations are everywhere, Winter Wonderland Festival in Hyde Park starts, everyone's in coats and boots... I loved it! Every year we were there it snowed. I remember hanging out in our tiny apartment one Saturday in December, listening to Christmas carols, and the first snow of the year started falling. We sat there and watched it snow while listening to songs like Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow, let it Snow. Christmas carols took on a whole new meaning for me. It was so magical to listen to them while watching it snow. Christmas comes and goes... New Years comes and goes.. and then you're left with the second half of Winter. Everyone's heads are down... and everyone is just hanging out for Spring!










Spring

London in the Spring is so beautiful. Daylight savings kicks in...The flowers in the parks start to bloom, the temperature is warmer, the air is fresh, there are more blue skies, the squirrels are everywhere, people are smiling once again! :)










Thanksgiving has just passed and I didn't get a chance to celebrate it this year. But I often think of the seasons at Thanksgiving now and I'm so grateful for the beautiful world that we live in and how amazing the seasons come and go and bring such a different beauty with each.




12 comments:

  1. Aw I LOVE this!! Such beautiful photos, everything looks amazing!! So lucky to have lived through the seasons for a few years - I don't think I've realised before how much of an impact they have on day to day living in places like England! We just live obliviously season-to-season - I think the only differences in Winter are wearing jumpers and heating my Milo!! So gorgeous Stace xox

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    1. We should have welcoming new season parties!! And decorate accordingly! xoxo

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    2. I'm IN!!!! :) I want to do this at home but James'll only let me decorate for Christmas lol :) xoxox

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  2. So beautiful, Stace! We had Autumn down in Adelaide, which was always so pretty. I love snow!!

    I think it's funny that you are writing about Thanksgiving below the picture of a bird that seems to be saying 'What?!!?' :)
    xo

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    1. That duck photo is one of my favourites!! I couldn't believe that the ground was covered in little daisies! And the duck let me get so close. We loved going and feeding the animals in the gorgeous parks! :)

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  3. Loved this Stacy!

    I TOTALLY know what you mean, and you made me a little homesick for Utah - because the changing seasons was one of my absolute FAVOURITE things about living there, and one of the few things that I still miss.

    Made the year more manageable somehow, broken up into four short blocks of time. I also loved feeling like I had 4 'new beginnings' a year too, so if I felt like Summer hadn't gone very well, for example, then I could try again in Fall :)

    PLUS, I love how BEAUTIFUL each season is in it's own way. I reckon if you could bring seasons to Brisbane (although now that I'm trying to picture it, I really can't!) then you'd just about have the picture city :)

    xoxo Tammy

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    1. I hear the seasons are beautiful in Utah too! Hopefully I'll be there one day :) I can't imagine Brisbane with snow, but it would be awesome! xo

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  4. I never thought it would happen, but your pictures make me homesick for London :-) I can't wait to show my boys such a beautiful place

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    1. Hi Dianne! :) Have you got a trip planned yet?

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  5. This is all so beautiful!!!I'm dying over those autumn trees!

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  6. I lived there for about 10 months just over 7 years ago. We're planning on moving there in a couple of years for a few years. Once the boys are a little older. My husband and I both have grandparents from the UK which allow us to get visas.

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    1. We got there on ancestral visas too! I really hope to take our future kids back there one day as well :)

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